The impact of parent-created motivational climate on adolescent athletes' perceptions of physical self-concept

This is a preliminary version of this article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below.Grounded in expectancy-value model (Eccles, 1993) and achievement goal theory (Nicholls, 1989), this study examined the perceived parental climate and its impact on athletes' perceptions of competence and ability. Hierarchical regression analyses with a sample of 237 British adolescent athletes revealed that mothers and fathers' task- and ego-involving climate predicted their son's physical self-concept; the father in particular is the strongest influence in shaping a son's physical self-concept positively and negatively. It was also found that the self-concept of the young adolescent athlete is more strongly affected by the perceived parental-created motivational climate (both task and ego) than the older adolescent athlete's self-concept. These findings support the expectancy-value model assumptions related to the role of parents as important socializing agents, the existence of gender-stereotyping, and the heavy reliance younger children place on parents' feedback

What do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills?

One reason sport psychologists teach psychological skills is to enhance performance in sport; but the value of psychological skills for young athletes is questionable because of the qualitative and quantitative differences between children and adults in their understanding of abstract concepts such as mental skills. To teach these skills effectively to young athletes, sport psychologists need to appreciate what young athletes implicitly understand about such skills because maturational (e.g., cognitive, social) and environmental (e.g., coaches) factors can influence the progressive development of children and youth. In the present qualitative study, we explored young athletes’ (aged 10–15 years) understanding of four basic psychological skills: goal setting, mental imagery, self-talk, and relaxation. Young athletes (n = 118: 75 males and 43 females) completed an open-ended questionnaire to report their understanding of these four basic psychological skills. Compared with the older youth athletes, the younger youth athletes were less able to explain the meaning of each psychological skill. Goal setting and mental imagery were better understood than self-talk and relaxation. Based on these findings, sport psychologists should consider adapting interventions and psychoeducational programs to match young athletes’ age and developmental level

Associations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes

In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because reproduction between close relatives is both rare and frequently associated with confounding social factors. Here, using genomic inbreeding coefficients (F-ROH) for >1.4 million individuals, we show that F-ROH is significantly associated (p <0.0005) with apparently deleterious changes in 32 out of 100 traits analysed. These changes are associated with runs of homozygosity (ROH), but not with common variant homozygosity, suggesting that genetic variants associated with inbreeding depression are predominantly rare. The effect on fertility is striking: F-ROH equivalent to the offspring of first cousins is associated with a 55% decrease [95% CI 44-66%] in the odds of having children. Finally, the effects of F-ROH are confirmed within full-sibling pairs, where the variation in F-ROH is independent of all environmental confounding.Peer reviewe

Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk

BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10-8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10-8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10-8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific associat

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

A case-only study to identify genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers

Breast cancer (BC) risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers varies by genetic and familial factors. About 50 common variants have been shown to modify BC risk for mutation carriers. All but three, were identified in general population studies. Other mutation carrier-specific susceptibility variants may exist but studies of mutation carriers have so far been underpowered. We conduct a novel case-only genome-wide association study comparing genotype frequencies between 60,212 general population BC cases and 13,007 cases with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. We identify robust novel associations for 2 variants with BC for BRCA1 and 3 for BRCA2 mutation carriers, P < 10−8, at 5 loci, which are not associated with risk in the general population. They include rs60882887 at 11p11.2 where MADD, SP11 and EIF1, genes previously implicated in BC biology, are predicted as potential targets. These findings will contribute towards customising BC polygenic risk scores for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Studies of mammary carcinoma metastasis in a mouse model system. I: Derivation and characterization of cells with different metastatic properties during tumour progression in vivo

The biological and metastatic properties of cells from a murine mammary adenocarcinoma, MT1, were studied during serial transplantation in syngeneic hosts. Over 35 generations the tumour progressed from a well-differentiated, poorly metastatic neoplasm to an anaplastic highly metastatic state. At early passages the tumour yielded uniform cultures of cuboidal epithelial cells, at passage 17 both epitheloid and spindle type cells were present, and by passage 30 only spindle type cells were obtained. Epithelioid cell lines and clones when injected intravenously into syngeneic hosts produced lung colonies only, whereas spindle cell lines were capable of extensive extrapulmonary colonisation. Similar patterns of dissemination and growth were seen in spontaneous metastasis assays. In spite of the marked phenotypic differences in these 'subpopulations', their comparable ultrastructural features, oestrogen receptor levels, expression of MMTV antigens, DNA content and lectin binding profiles suggested a common cell lineage. It is proposed that these cell lines will be of use in the determination of tumour and host factors influencing tumour progression and the evolution of metastatic potential

Studies of mammary carcinoma metastasis in a mouse model system. II: Lectin binding properties of cells in relation to the incidence and organ distribution of metastases

A panel of fluorescein-conjugated lectins was used to investigate the cell surface carbohydrates of cell lines isolated from a mouse mammary adenocarcinoma which differ markedly in their morphological and metastatic properties. The lectin-binding profiles of the cells showed them to express generally similar cell surface characteristics; however, two minor differences were evident. Galactose moieties recognized by peanut lectin were expressed on all highly metastatic fusiform cell types examined, but only on 50–60 per cent of the polygonal cells of limited metastatic capacity. Similarly, N-acetylgalactosamine moieties were demonstrated on fusiform cell types by soya bean lectin binding but were not expressed on intact polygonal cells. In both cases pretreatment of polygonal cells with neuraminidase allowed lectin binding comparable with that of fusiform cells suggesting that Gal and Ga1NAc sugars were abundantly present but masked by sialic acid residues. Using a novel technique in which tumour cells were incubated on cryostat sections of normal tissues, it was found that the cell lines exhibited different adhesion patterns which to some extent reflected their preferential sites for spontaneous metastasis and organ colonization in vivo. Thus the adherence of fusiform cells to liver was five times as great as that of polygonal cells, whereas the latter bound preferentially to lung tissue. Prior treatment of polygonal cells with neuraminidase doubled their frequency of attachment to liver sections, but had no effect on their binding to other tissues. Also, the presence of 100 mM N-acetylgalactosamine during incubation specifically inhibited the adherence of fusiform cells to liver tissues, but did not significantly influence other cell-tissue interactions. The data suggest that the expression of galactosyl or N-acetylated galactosyl groups on the fusiform cells facilitates their attachment to lectin-like receptors on liver cells and contributes to their superior capacity, compared with polygonal cells, for growth and metastasis in this organ